As UrbanTurf reported last week, car2go’s expansion into Arlington late last year has not been nearly as seamless and convenient as expected. In light of this, a major change may soon be enacted to relax restrictions on the car-sharing service in the county.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board voted unanimously to amend the terms of their car2go trial period in order to allow the vehicles to be used cross-jurisdictionally with DC. The change, which still requires approval from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), will allow car2go users to take one-way trips between Arlington and DC through December 1st, when the evaluation term expires.

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Car2go’s long-term success in Arlington may depend heavily upon the provision for cross-jurisdictional use, as the car-sharing network has under-performed since launching in the county five months ago. Fewer people have signed up for memberships and fewer trips have been taken than anticipated, leading the company to reduce the fleet of cars in the county from 95 to 25.

“Partnering with D.C. is a sensible and logical next step in providing a seamless carsharing network for many of our residents and visitors that cross into the District each and every day,” Arlington County Board Chair Libby Graham said in a statement.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/cross-jurisdictional_car2go_service_approved_on_arlingtons_side_of_the_rive/11117

4 Comments

Eponymous said at 11:09 am on Monday April 18, 2016:

I really hope DDOT has the sense not to approve this. Arlington users will funnel the cars to their far-flung neighborhoods and make the service useless for people in the District. I know I’ll be cancelling my membership if this goes through.

Zestious said at 2:02 pm on Monday April 18, 2016:

@Eponymous, While this is more favorable to Arlington than DC; I think DC should approve it. It’s a regional approach to economic development and transportation; which makes more sense. Also, Car2go employees would relocate a car that ended up in a “far-flung neighborhood”. “...In a situation where a car were to sit too long we would have an employee from our fleet team move that vehicle.”

MLD said at 2:34 pm on Monday April 18, 2016:

“Arlington users will funnel the cars to their far-flung neighborhoods and make the service useless for people in the District. “

How would this be worse than people in far-flung District neighborhoods taking the cars there?

Eponymous said at 3:15 pm on Monday April 18, 2016:

@zestious Even if the “regional approach” were a sound one as a general rule(which I think is debatable, especially in the context of transportation—see Metro), I’m not sure how cross-jurisdictional Car2Go service furthers that. Moreover, would you also extend that reasoning to places like Woodbridge or Rockville?

@MLD It IS a problem. But in general it’s much easier to get from central D.C. to places like, say, Woodridge or Spring Valley, than it is to get from central D.C. to places like Cherrydale or Shirlington—there are fewer bridges to contend with in D.C. (hence more alternate routes), and better transit access. Plus commuting patterns tend to bring an influx of people into and out of D.C. at certain times (daytime population is roughly double the District’s actual) in a way that doesn’t take place with other local jurisdictions. So while cars may migrate to the more suburban areas of D.C. in the evenings now, that effect is likely to be much more pronounced (to places much farther from the city center) if cross-jurisdictional service is implemented. And it’s unlikely that Car2Go’s re-balancing service will be able to keep up—considering that it doesn’t do this very well even at present.